This weekend, Mexican families remember and celebrate their ancestors during Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Families typically gather together to create altars and make offerings. The feast for the dead has survived for thousands of years.

The nonprofit organization, Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders, is organizing a weekend of events for Dia de lost Muertos at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, on 10th Street and Second Avenue, New York City.

"When the Spaniards came to Mexico and colonized the area, they prohibited all rituals and all celebrations. But this one [Dia de los Muertos] they were not able get rid of, so they changed the date to coincide with the Catholic celebration of All Soul's Day and All Saint's Day. Some elements of Catholic traditions were incorporated into the celebrations but original traditions prevailed," said Juan Carlos Aguirre, executive director of Mano a Mano.

Aguirre said originally the celebration coincided with the end of the growing season for crops when people harvested the corn, beans, peas and squash, and the best of the best were offered in remembrance of the dead. The festival that would last for 40 days -- 20 days to celebrate the loss of child and young people and 20 days for adults.

"Our celebration is very traditional, very similar to the way it is done in Mexico and we celebrate on two days. We build an altar on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. That's followed by a procession that starts from Union Square for the Procession of the Innocents to remember especially children, those who died in wars, and people who have died from police brutality in all parts of the world."

This year, Mano a Mano celebrate the contribution of Mexican actress Maria Felix and the poet Octavio Paz, who won a Nobel Prize for Literature. People are asked to bring pictures of their loved ones for the altar, a candle and to write a message to loved one. Traditionally the altar is decorated with the ancestor's favorite foods, candles as a guiding light for the spirit and marigolds, the smell of which guides the spirit back home.

"As long as you remember them, they are still with you. This commemoration, it can offer healing for people who are suffering, who have a difficulty with death. On this day you remember the ancestor, the great things they did, you remember their influence in your life, and every year you can make a connection with them," Aguirre said. "But for us, it is extremely important for us to remember and have a connection with them because these people who passed away are part of our history, are part of who we are, and if we forget them, we are forgetting a part of who we are."

In New York, Mexicans are the fastest growing Latino sub-group. An estimated 500,000 residents live in metro New York, according to the Mexican Consulate, and their cultural traditions and practices are obvious in neighborhoods across the city.